Reborn in 1993, Dark Sea

"Old Luo, how's the situation?" Cao Yingying asked with a frown as she saw Old Luo from the forensic department approaching.

"The preliminary findings are largely consistent with our initial assessment!" Old Luo said, adjusting his thick glasses. "There were two explosions in total."

To be precise, it was an initial explosion that led to a series of subsequent explosions, which ultimately resulted in the outcome we are seeing now.

The first explosion, which was the epicenter of the initial explosion, occurred in the bathroom of this factory building;

The epicenter of the second series of explosions was in Factory Building No. 3. According to prison authorities, two large barrels of thinner, commonly known as banana oil, were stored there and were used as a thinner for spray paint.

The first explosion was likely a dust explosion. The resulting high temperature and pressure caused the banana oil to evaporate at an accelerated rate, which was then ignited by the high temperature, leading to a series of subsequent explosions.

Our initial assessment is that the explosion was caused by a leak due to corrosion of the ventilation duct, which led to the accumulation of paint dust in the toilet. When this dust came into contact with an open flame, it caused an explosion.

I've inspected the remaining ventilation ducts, and the materials are indeed problematic. In addition, the components in the paint are corrosive to this material, which over time led to corrosion and ultimately caused the leak.

The only suspicious point here is that the first dust explosion in the toilet seemed to have been a bit too powerful.

Luo pursed his lips as he said this.

"Luo, are you saying it's possible it was designed intentionally?"

"That's not necessarily true," Lao Luo shook his head. "It's more likely that the prisoners mishandled the paint and added too much thinner, which increased the flammability of the paint dust."

I have preliminarily confirmed this. We collected a very small amount of paint from the paint cans at the scene and compared it with the unopened paint. That's roughly how we came to this conclusion.

The operator did indeed add excessive amounts of thinner, namely banana oil, before spraying the paint.

However, this is only a preliminary assessment. A massive explosion had just occurred here, and firefighters spent several hours putting out the fire. The site has been almost completely destroyed.

Finding any obvious traces is too difficult!

Another point of doubt is that, in order to cause such a powerful dust explosion in a toilet, the entire toilet should have been filled with a very high concentration of dust before the explosion occurred.

With such a high concentration of dust, the operator should have noticed it.

As an experienced operator, he shouldn't have been unaware of the danger involved; it's baffling that he would still attempt to ignite the fire under such circumstances.

"I can explain this for everyone's reference!" Cao Yingying was about to say something when Yang Yuanbing finally couldn't help but stand up.

"Section Chief Yang, please speak!" Cao Yingying said, her brows furrowed, but her tone remained very polite.

"This Li Yong, he's not a professional. He just used to work as a spray painter, so he's basically an experienced one. In our prison, you don't need any professional qualifications for the jobs, you know what I mean."

As for the so-called dust explosion that Lao Luo mentioned, let alone Li Yong, this is the first time I've ever heard of it. He definitely doesn't understand these things.

"Section Chief Yang makes some sense!" Lao Luo nodded. "The probability of a dust explosion is indeed not high, and the conditions that trigger it are quite demanding, so there aren't many cases."

As far as I know, many fire prevention units don't emphasize this point; they just repeatedly stress not to cause a fire.

The prisoner who performed the operation was likely unaware of these things. The fact that he dared to smoke in the workshop's restroom, which has such high fire safety requirements, shows that his safety awareness is not very high, and there is a high probability that he did not understand these things.

If he knew all this and still set it on fire, he would be committing suicide.

"You mean the prisoner has a possibility of committing suicide?"

"This possibility cannot be ruled out, but based on the current situation, these are the only inferences we can draw. We still need to conduct further on-site investigations to find out what the actual situation was at the time."

But I advised the captain not to have too much hope. The scene was so badly damaged, especially after being washed by water, that it was unlikely to find any valuable clues.

Furthermore, thoroughly cleaning up the site is a massive undertaking, and I'm worried that with our current manpower, it might take a very long time.

"I understand, thank you for your hard work!" Cao Yingying nodded, her tightly furrowed brows still furrowed. "Could you confirm what the source of the fire is?"

"It's hard to say. It could be a match or a lighter. But there's not much difference. Whether it's a match or a lighter, such a big flame would probably burn it all away, unless it's a metal lighter."

"Understood. Everyone, please work a little harder and examine the scene carefully again. If we can find any source of fire, that would be the best outcome, as it might lead to a breakthrough in the case. Thank you all for your hard work."

"No problem, I'll lead everyone to conduct a detailed site survey right away, but be prepared for a long battle."

"Captain Cao, do you think... there's anything we prison staff can do to help? Do you need us to organize some people to help you investigate the scene? I mean, help you clean up the debris around here or something."

Cao Yingying's words made Yang Yuanbing's heart leap into his throat! She really knew how to rub salt in the wound!

What Yang Yuanbing feared most was that the lighter would be found, which was why he came to the scene to keep an eye on things.

"Um... Lao Luo, what do you think?"

"That works too, thank you Section Chief Yang. This will definitely speed up the process significantly. However, your people on site must obey our commands!" Old Luo nodded and said.

"Of course! We're short-staffed with prison guards, and now this big thing has happened... Look, how about I organize some of the better-behaved inmates to come and help?"

"Please rest assured, everyone. I will carefully select the personnel. They will absolutely obey orders, and if they discover anything, they can be given a reduced sentence. I think they will definitely do their best."

"Well... I have no objection in principle, Captain Cao, what do you think?"

"I have no objections, let's do it this way. The pressure from above is immense, and we definitely need to speed things up to give everyone an explanation. Let's do it this way, thank you, Section Chief Yang."

"No trouble at all. This is a problem caused by our prison. We are the ones who are bothering you. I'll go select people now."

Yang Yuanbing hurriedly left, and Cao Yingying frowned even more as she watched his retreating figure.

"Captain, isn't this against the rules?" a police officer next to Cao Yingying whispered.

"It's not exactly up to the rules, but I'm curious to see what tricks this Section Chief Yang is up to! Let them get moving; how can we expect results if they don't get going? Do you understand what I mean?"

"Understood, I'll keep an eye on things from the shadows."

"Okay, thank you for your hard work. You guys keep busy here, I need to go see the prison leaders. Since I'm here, I should at least say hello."

"Don't worry, we'll take care of things here."

Cao Yingying led two officers toward the prison office building, while the others dispersed and began to do their own things.

The man with the brown glasses didn't leave. He stared at Cao Yingying's back for a while, then turned to look in the direction Yang Yuanbing had left, seemingly lost in thought.